


Hypotheticals

by saucy5sauce



Series: together, somehow [1]
Category: Veep
Genre: And they have a political relationship started when they were drunk, But no one can shut up about how perfect they are for each other, F/M, In which Dan and Amy are in love, but won't admit it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-04 07:41:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4129977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saucy5sauce/pseuds/saucy5sauce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><strong>hy·po·thet·i·cal</strong><br/>ˌhīpəˈTHedək(ə)l/<br/><i>adjective</i><br/>of, based on, or serving as a hypothesis.</p><p><i>noun</i><br/>a hypothetical proposition or statement.</p><p> ~~~</p><p>It's not that Dan loves Amy. It's just that <i> if </i> he did, it would make sense.<br/>It's not that they are in love. It's just that <i> if </i> they can convince everyone in the office that they are, they would be unstoppable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. (hypothetical) crushes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Amy rests her head on her steering wheel and wonders what **hypotheticals** would have to happen before Dan-fucking-Egan sat down beside her for Thanksgiving dinner._

Amy is  _not_ drowning her post-breakup sorrow by drinking. She orders another shot (she's already lost count) and closes her eyes. She knows why she should be at this bar, knows it like she knows that her sister and mother know that she is lying about missing their calls.

Amy is successful and does not need to hear another person tell her that she is _too stressed_ , that she is _too busy with work_ , and that she _pushed her boyfriend away because of it_. She does not need a lecture about why she isn't happy. _  
_

She never felt especially happy around Ed. Maybe that's why she's not thinking of him when she slams her empty glass on the bar and signals for another.

She's thinking about work. Thinking about what will happen when she walks in tomorrow and everyone knows that she's single. Wondering what will happening when Dan knows.

Amy knows what will happen, of course. (She's not dumb.) She knows that Dan will say something smart and that his lips will turn up at the sides, that she will dismiss the comment, that Jonah will ask her out again, that she will turn her down.

But Amy can't help but wonder what would happen ( **hypothetically** ) if Dan liked her.

In this **hypothetical** situation, Dan would grab her arm and tug her away from Selina, he would put his mouth close to her ear and whisper something that she wouldn't expect. Maybe he would tell her that she did a good job last week with the prime minister visit, maybe he would say that she looked beautiful.

If he liked her, he could ask her out without even looking up from his computer. He would make the reservations, order for both of them in a control move. And Amy would touch his knee halfway through dessert and tell him that she would be waiting for him in the car naked. (Which would give her all the power.)

When Amy leaves the bar, she's alone. But in her mind, a plan is forming. She is Amy Brookheimer; she is unstoppable chief of staff, she is not going to pine over some boy.

She's going to make him fall in love with her. If she can remember in the morning.

* * *

"What rhymes with Jonah in the kraus? Jonah in the house!”

Amy breezes by in a tight skirt. She hangs up her phone and navigates the chaotic vice-president’s office easily.

“Jonah in the blouse,” she says.

“Jonah is a mouse,” Dan rhymes. He glances up from his work to catch her reaction, but she’s already gone.

“POTUS sent me,” Jonah cries. “You disrespect me, you disrespect the fucking President of the United States of America!”

“No, because you’re just a lowly liaison, Jonah. He’s never going to come to your rescue,” Amy says, sticking her head back in the room. She’s already on hold for someone else, which leaves just enough time for her to diss Jonah and wink at Dan.

It’s the best part of his day.

 

* * *

 

“ **Hypothetically** ”, Amy is explaining to her sister, “I would have feelings for Dan.”

“But you’re not capable of having feelings?”

“But,” Amy says, “I see past his pretty face and the act where he pretends to care about me.”

“He _cares_ about _you_?” her sister gasps.

“Is that so hard to believe?” Amy mutters to herself. Louder, she corrects: “ _Pretends_ to care. It’s all pretend.”

Her sister is not buying it. And Amy is already pulling into her driveway. She finds herself unable to do work in the short time when she leaves the office and before she starts working at home. This is when she calls her sister.

“I want to meet him. Didn’t you say he’s not going home for Thanksgiving?”

“That’s only because he doesn’t have time-- Selina is giving us two days off. Also, you _cannot_ meet him. That’s like-- a rabbit wanting to meet a lion.”

“He’s going to eat me? Come on, Amy, what’s the worst that can happen?”

“You could push our faces together.”

“Exactly! There’ll be turkey there, tell him that, Ames. You can’t be left out at Thanksgiving for another year.”

“Being single does not mean being left out,” Amy protests, but her sister’s already hung up.

Amy rests her head on her steering wheel and wonders what **hypotheticals** would have to happen before Dan-fucking-Egan sat down beside her for Thanksgiving dinner.

 

* * *

 

"I hear you make a fine turkey,” Dan whispers in Amy’s ear when Selina is yelling at Mike.

Amy’s head snaps up and Dan barely has time to brace himself before she’s glaring at him.

“Where _the fuck_ did you hear that, Egan?”

“A little birdie who calls herself your sister.”

“I don’t have a sister,” Amy says without blinking.

“Come on,” Dan says, wondering how long Amy can glare at him. (It’s like a staring contest except more feelings are being hurt.) “I met your sister. At the hospital that one time, remember?”

She sighs. “Congratulations. You’ve called my bluff.”

“We should play poker!” Dan calls, but she’s already walking away, her heels snapping against the floor to remind him how much better she is.

Dan is about to give up, but knows that Selina needs Amy in the office. So she can’t be going far. He grabs his jacket and follows her, which only works until she disappears into the women’s bathroom.

He is considering his next move when she runs out and into him.

 

* * *

 

Selina calls when Amy is in the bathroom.

“Where are you?” is the message that she leaves.

And that’s why Amy runs out. Why Dan is standing in front of the door, she has no idea.

For a second, all she feels in the fall. She can only see black and her feet no longer feel the ground under them. But she doesn’t feel pain, either.

“Open your eyes,” a voice mutters, and when she does, he’s looking down at her.

Amy rolls her eyes. “Get your hands off me, Dan.”

He sets her back on her feet and steps back.

“Sorry,” Dan says.

“Yeah, thought so.” She turns and starts heading back to the office. “Why are you being so fucking nice, anyway? This some sort of joke?”

Dan shakes his head, and falls into step beside her. “Not at all. Just thought you needed some help.”

“Ha! Keep on dreaming, Egan.”

“I’ll just ask your sister.”

“You kept her number? She’s married for fuck’s sake. I knew you were a douche but this really--”

“I mean at Thanksgiving,” Dan interrupts. “She invited me.”

“And?”

“And I said yes.”

“That’s just great to hear. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do.” And Amy disappears into Selina’s office, wooden doors closing behind her.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“He probably won’t even come,” Amy says, shifting uncomfortably in her new black jeans and favorite old sweater.

“Whatever you say,” her sister smiles. Amy sees the worry in her eyes, knows that she’s worrying about her reaction if Dan doesn’t show.

If Amy liked Dan, she might have wanted him to come in the first place. If she wanted him to come, she might be worrying that he wouldn’t.

She was worrying that Dan wouldn’t show, but did that mean that she liked him?

Dan is stuck in traffic and Amy is lost in a tangle of **hypotheticals**. 

 

* * *

 

 

When Dan rings the doorbell, Amy jumps. He meets her family with a smile and Amy studies him to figure out if it’s real.

“Stop glaring at me, Ames,” Dan says when they are alone. “I’m not fucking Jonah, for Christ sake.”

“That’s true,” Amy nods. “It could be worse. You could be Jonah.”

 

* * *

 

Her mother sends them out to get seasoning. Nobody can remember Thanksgiving without her special turkey dressing. Amy refrains from pointing out that no one can remember Thanksgiving where some guy was forced on her-- this isn’t the first time.

Dan tries not to stare at Amy while they shop. It’s just that she looks so domestic, with recyclable bags and a paper shopping list.

“It should be in this aisle,” Amy says, but for the life of him, Dan cannot remember what they are looking for.

He hears the voices of all of his friend, asking _Why aren’t you dating Amy?_ He hears himself denying that it would happen again; he can’t seem to remember why that was, either.

Hell, even Jonah tries to date her on a daily basis. And Dan considers himself miles smarter than that asshole.

“You lost or something?” Amy is smirking up at him.

Dan feels uncomfortable, and it’s not just because it’s cold as fuck in the frozen section. He is used to doing domestic things, yes, but always alone. He’s been engaged, he’s dated, but has he ever gone grocery shopping with someone who wasn’t related to him?

“Nope,” he says, hoping that he sounds more cheerful than he feels. “We almost ready to check out?”

Amy holds up a case of beer. “Now we are.”

Their eyes meet and it’s almost like work again, like they are making fun of Jonah or commiserating together. Dan’s always liked that feeling. And he likes it when, on the drive home, she lets him pick the radio station and nods her approval.

He likes this. But that doesn’t mean that he likes her.

 

* * *

 

When Amy wakes up the next morning, she can’t remember how the night ended. She heads into work with thick sunglasses and reminds herself that she has thick skin. Whatever Dan says, she’ll be okay.

But Dan doesn’t say anything. He barely nods at her when she walks in. At lunchtime, Amy is busy ignoring Mike and rolling her eyes behind Gary’s back to notice that Dan is staring at her.

It’s five pm and the whole office –-minus Sue, who has already vacated the premise—is calling to cancel plans because they all know that work comes before anything.

 _Dan is probably canceling on a date_ , Amy thinks bitterly. She’s not totally sure why that thought burns like tequila; she’ll have to ask her sister if this means that she likes Dan.

She watches him walk over to her and her heart rate triples. What if she slept with him last night? What if he says something about hanging out together when it’s not work-mandated? What if he doesn’t?

One thing’s for sure: All of these **hypotheticals** are going to ruin Amy Brookheimer.

 


	2. the day after

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Hey, Amy, it’s Dan.”_  
>  “Where are you calling me from? It says unknown number.”  
> “A payphone,” he says, “Like in the movies.” He tries to pass it off as a joke, but she’s not laughing.  
> There’s a pause then she says, “You know my number by heart?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a (relatively) quick update because so many people commented and gave kudos! This fandom is amazing, xxx

## CHAPTER 2

“Hey, Ames,” Dan says with a smug smile.

Amy feels like she’s going to faint. She tries to remember last night, tries to remember if the bed was warm when she woke up. She’s had a one night stand with Dan before, she had been too drunk to remember that, too—fortunately. She’s always been glad that when she looks at Dan, she doesn’t think of that mistake. (Is it a mistake if you do it twice? she wonders.)

“Ohmygod, last night,” he says with wide eyes and this is it, Amy’s going to pass out. “I’m still bloated,” Dan finished.

“From the food?” Amy asks.

“Of course.” Now Dan’s looking at her funny and Amy’s cheeks are turning pink because _of course_ they didn’t sleep together. They are barely friends—Thanksgiving with her family was a bit of an upgrade, but still. This is Dan. And Amy _hates_ Dan.

 

* * *

 

     _She doesn’t remember._

_Unless… she’s pretending not to remember because it’s awkward. Maybe she wishes it never happened._

_Oh, god._

Dan lies his head down on his desk and tries to remember the breathing exercises from that one yoga class he went to in college when everyone said he was too stressed.

Two deep breaths later, he doesn’t feel any better. Overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they did last night and how they acted today at work, he sighs. Is it too much to ask for answers to all of the questions running through his head?

He calls Amy from a payphone. It’s a feature in his favorite bar, and everyone there –himself included- is surprised that it works. But it does.

“Hello?” She sounds far away, and he wishes that she weren’t. If she were here, he would make sure that she wasn’t lying. If she were here, he would kiss her, just to see if it would change anything.

“Hey, Amy, it’s Dan.”

“Where are you calling me from? It says unknown number.”

“A payphone,” he says, “Like in the movies.” He tries to pass it off as a joke, but she’s not laughing.

There’s a pause then she says, “You know my number by heart?”

“I’m surprised too. But hey, I was calling to ask if you remember last night—if we are still on for the plan—if you’ve torn up the contract or if you want to, haha.”

“That’s a lot of _if_ s,” Amy says, on his case like always.

“Sorry.”

“Also, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Contract?”

Dan closes his eyes. _This just got a hell of a lot harder_ , he thinks.

“I can explain everything. In person, too. Where are you?”

“My house,” she says. “Do you know where that is, too?”

Dan thinks about it. “As a matter of fact, I do. I’ll be there in twenty.”

 

* * *

 

Amy’s apartment is not full of pictures. It is not brightly colored and is barely decorated at all.

She notices this for the first time after Dan says he’ll be there soon.

She tries to find something to put in the middle of the table, some flowers for the entryway, but there’s nothing. One look into her bedroom, complete with just a bed, and Amy feels like she could cry. She’s lived in the same apartment since she graduated, and this is all she has to show for it?

There’s a knock on the door and Amy curses.

 _Hell_ , she thinks, _even Dan’s bachelor pad looks less like a hotel. But it’s too late to do anything else._

When Amy opens the door, Dan is already smiling. He has turned his charm on for her, she notes, like he does for politicians.

“Well,” he says, stepping inside, “It smells like… burning toast in here.”

“Welcome!” Amy says sarcastically. “Sorry about—yeah. Do you want a drink?”

Dan nods. “You know me so well, Brookheimer.”

Amy prepares his favorite drink, scotch on the rocks, and a glass of Chardonnay for herself. They sit on the loveseat and cheers.

“To whichever of us ends up in the White House first,” Dan says with a slick grin.

“To me, then,” Amy says.

Dan rolls his eyes but drinks.

“So last night,” Dan starts, “we snuck out onto the roof to get out of doing dishes.”

Amy freezes. There would be no way for Dan to know that unless it happened.

“And,” Dan says while Amy prepares herself for the worst, “We made a plan to take over the world.”

 

* * *

 

Amy makes Dan explain while she makes eggs. She pretends not to remember how she had tried to once before, after they slept together. She tries not to remember how she felt when she woke up and he had already left.

“Taking over the world,” she says, cracking an egg hard against the side of a metal bowl. Dan winces.

“Yes,” he says.

“Of course.”

“Of course,” he echoes. “We were hiding to avoid doing dishes. And you brought up a 6-pack of beer. We started a drinking competition--”

Amy groans because _sober_ she can see why that’s a bad idea.

“We’re competitive,” Dan says from the table. “What would you expect?”

“Some sort of better judgment, on my part.” She lets the eggs sizzle and turns back to Dan. “Keep talking.”

“We were drinking and we got drunk, as it goes. Then, uh, we started playing truth or dare.”

Amy snorts a little at that, which makes Dan smile. He can see her more clearly, in this moment, than he ever has. Rigid, uptight Amy-- in her kitchen wearing pyjamas and her hair down. Amy who goes out to the parking garage to scream, Amy who is always repressing things-- snorting because that’s how she laughs when she’s alone.

Dan is distracted, but he tries to continue the story. He didn’t come here to eat her food and count down the hours until they have to show up for work (nine and counting). He came to tell her what they agreed on, even if he doesn’t want to.

“You asked what the worst thing I ever did was.”

“And?” Behind Amy, the eggs are burning. But she leans in towards him, just as curious as she had been that night.

“I said it was that I used woman for advancement in my career.” Dan doesn’t blink while admitting it, doesn’t show any regret. But then he sighs and looks away. “And I proposed to someone. I didn’t think she would say yes, didn’t think it would last so long, but it was working and we were planning a wedding. I had always wanted to get married, actually, but not like that. I confessed everything and broke it off. I broke her heart.”

Amy almost asks if it ‘advanced his career’. She almost gives him a hug because he looks so freaking _sad_. Instead, she gestures for him to continue the story.

“You said that it would work better if the woman was in on it. If it benefited both parties. I asked who you could possibly have in mind.”

Amy, who has always been composed and unfazed, has a hand covering her mouth and tears threatening her eyes.

“Shit,” she says, because she knows what happened next.

“I’m sorry,” Dan says in a rush. “I was a dick, I know.”

“I signed a contract?” Amy says.

“We both did. I’m really sorry, Ames. Also, I think the eggs are burning.”

She snaps to attention, focuses on turning off the stove and throwing out the eggs, on putting everything back in the fridge, on not collapsing into the chair across from where Dan sits.

“You okay?” he asks.

Amy laughs. “I’m better than you, that’s for sure. You should see your face. Stop staring, I’m fine. _Idiot_.”

“Um. What?”

“You’re an idiot,” Amy says louder. “But I’m not.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that it’s not a horrible idea. Kind of brilliant, actually. It would show Selina, everyone in the office, that we are a team. It would make us more appealing for others trying to hire a team of people. It would improve your image as a manslut and--”

“A _manslut_?” Dan says. But he’s smiling now, too. He knows.

Amy reaches one French-manicured hand out to Dan. He grabs it without thinking twice.

“So?” Amy says. “We really doing this?”

There’s no other way to describe it-- Dan’s face cracks open, his grin pushing color into his cheeks and Amy spots a dimple she’s never seen before.

He shakes her hand delicately, like she’s going to break. Amy suddenly feels like she might.

“We are.”

 

 


	3. hypothetically, fake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“I hate you,” she says._   
>  _“Love you too,” Dan winks and Amy doesn’t feel butterflies in her stomach-- it’s just her imagination. Because she hates Dan, she really does._   
>  _Except. Hypothetically, she could like him. And hypothetically, they’re in love._   
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some credit for this story goes to *tomlinsunshine* of A03 and her Larry fanfiction series: Hypotheticals. It's amazing and if you like Larry at all, you should read it. (If I could figure out how to attach a link to it, I would.)
> 
> ALSO, there is nothing I love more than reading your comments!! I promise to try to keep this story going (chapter 4 is already done!) but I haven't planned any of it, so if you like it, comment _what you think should happen next / what you'd like to see!_
> 
> xx

## CHAPTER 3

That night, they stayed up late planning the details of their plan. They sync their calendars and Amy calls Dan so much that he programs himself into her speed-dial.

They have an ongoing joke about how they already seem like an old married couple. Amy calls Dan her housewife and makes him go grocery shopping while she works on their political strategy. And Dan agrees to do anything because he will win ultimately when he’s president.

“If that ever happens,” Amy says, “I’m dead.”

“Hush, babe,” Dan says. (Ironically.) “You’ll be my veep.”

Amy reaches over him for the TV remote and he swats her hand away.

“I hate you,” she says.

“Love you too,” Dan winks and Amy doesn’t feel butterflies in her stomach-- it’s just her imagination. Because she hates Dan, she really does.

Except. **Hypothetically** , she could like him. And **hypothetically** , they’re in love.

 

* * *

 

On Monday, Dan and Amy walk into the office holding hands. Sue doesn’t bat an eyelash but Gary nearly passes out.

On Tuesday, they ditch the rest of the group during a photo-shoot and when Dan holds the door open for Amy, she kisses his cheek.

On Wednesday, Amy gets asked not once, not twice, but _three_ _times_ if she’s pregnant or maybe just plain ill. Jonah points out that she’s being nice to Dan, who comes to her rescue and throws M &Ms at the tall idiot.

On Thursday, Dan interrupts a meeting to ask if he and Amy can take Friday off for a long weekend. Selina is so shocked that she might have agreed.

And no one sees them until Monday.

 

* * *

 

There is a long weekend but there is no sharing beds. There is no more truth or dare and the friendly banter is still barely friendly.

So why is Dan having the time of his life?

He stays at Amy’s apartment. They can’t let anyone doubt their relationship, not at the very beginning. Besides, she has a spare room and his bachelor pad doesn't even have a couch.

They dig out all of her old board games and Dan later crowds himself K _ing of Monopoly._

“I kind of have a monopoly,” he says, “Now that I have you.”

And Amy doesn’t roll her eyes, she doesn’t scoff or say anything rhetorical. Their faces are somehow close together and she wants to be doing more than looking at Dan, she wants to feel his skin under her.

He is making eyes at her and she knows that he’s going to try to kiss her. But for once, she’s not sure what to do.

Dan does. As smooth as he always is, he tilts his head and bites his lip.

“Want to practice?” he asks.

Amy doesn’t have time to answer-- their mouths are already touching and Dan’s hand is resting on her back, pulling her closer to him.

Amy thinks this would be the best kiss she’s ever had, if it wasn’t at least 50% fake.

 _Oh, God,_ Amy thinks. _What the fuck have I gotten myself into?_

 

* * *

 

They don’t talk about the kiss or what it means but Dan’s head in consumed by why he knows that it doesn’t mean:

It doesn’t mean that Amy has feelings for him.

It doesn’t mean that their relationship is real or has the potential to be.

Dan sighs. He’s never thought _that_ much about Amy before. He slept with her, yeah, but that wasn’t like other one night stands-- it wasn’t calculated to advance him and it wasn’t at the moment that he needed to blow off steam.

He slept with her because he couldn’t help himself. Because she was giving him _those_ _eyes_ and he always found himself trying to make her laugh, to impress her, and suddenly she was offering herself. But fuck, he hadn’t even realized that he wanted her.

Dan is starting to realize that he didn’t think of Amy like his sister-- who he had always tried to one-up and who stopped calling him on his birthday.

“You okay in there?” Amy cracks her bathroom door and finds Dan sitting on the toilet fully-dressed with his head in his hands.

Slowly, he looks up and meets her eyes.

“Dandy,” he says. “I’m just _dandy_.”

“We gotta get going. Work, you know? That thing we do all day?”

“Yeah,” Dan says but all he’s thinking is how he spends all day trying not to stare at Amy. It’s work, that’s for sure. And here he is, sitting in her bathroom and freaking out when he’s always been able to play it cool.

He stands up and notices that Amy isn’t giving him a once-over.

“How do I look?” he asks, turning on the infamous-Dan-Egan-smirk.

“Dandy,” Amy teases.

And Dan can’t help himself. He crosses the bathroom in two quick steps and pulls Amy into his arms. She half-heartedly pushes him off.

“Egan,” she sighs. “Save it for the public.”

And he’s left with yet another reminder of what isn’t real.

 

* * *

 

“You-- Fucking, her and you---”

“Jonah will you kindly shut the fuck up?”

Amy walks out of Selina’s office with a million things on a To Do list that she has yet to even write, and she does not feel ready to deal with Jonah or Dan. But there they are.

And by the way that they stop talking right as she walks in, she can only guess what they were saying.

“Hello, _idiot_ ,” she says.

“Don’t call m-” Jonah starts but Amy cuts him off with, “And good morning, tall piece of seaweed with no purpose.”

Jonah opens his mouth and then closes it.

“Well, we really should be going,” Dan says. He grabs Amy’s hand just to spite her and they walk out of the office like that, leaving behind a trail of coworkers still gawking.

“Shit,” Dan says once they are out in the hallway (but not far enough that the office can’t hear them), “I thought he’d never leave.”

“ _We_ left, Dan.”

“Shh,” he hisses, “I’m trying to be charming. Let me be charming.”

“Oh.”

“Your insult was so great babe,” Dan says. Over his shoulder, Amy can see the whole office (minus Selina and Sue) craning their heads out the door to watch them.

“Oh,” she says again. Dan wants to put on a show. Well, she knows how to do that.

She sneaks her arm around him and grins up at his stupid, smug, perfect face.

“Shut up,” she says.

“ _Make me_.”

It’s their first official kiss, and the whole fucking wing is abuzz with gossip. Nevermind that Amy’s stomach is full of butterflies.

 

 


	4. first fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Why did we think this was going to work again?” Dan asks. He sinks into a chair that Amy has set up alone by a bookshelf. He isn’t leaving, not yet._  
>  “You just wanted to kiss me,” Amy says without thinking. And she can’t be thinking, not really, because she has just told Dan Egan her biggest fear.  
> Dan looks up at her. Waits to speak until she’s met his eyes.  
> “You let me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, I just realized that I haven't even thought about where this story fits into the plot line of the show.... It's before (S4 SPOILERS) Dan is fired and Amy quits. And it is before Selina becomes president. So the gang is all together working the VP office :)

## CHAPTER 4

Dating Dan is nothing like dating any of the other DC guys that Amy has dated.

Dating Dan is a boat going thirty miles an hour and Amy has to use both hands to cling on for her life. Dating Dan is not being sure what there is to be scared of, but holding on anyway.

 _The past week feels like a mirage,_ Amy thinks to herself as she’s driving home. Her sister keeps trying to call, but Amy has lectured Dan on what to do. And there he is, sitting in the passenger seat and sending Amy’s phone to voice-mail.

It’s a mirage because it’s a reality that can’t be real.

 _Pinch me_ , Amy finds herself thinking multiple times a day.

_I must be dreaming. Someone wake me up._

And chasing that thought: _I don’t want to wake up._

 

* * *

 

“What is this, our first fight?” Dan asks. And it must be, because Amy doesn’t laugh, even though he used the voice that always cracks her up. (It’s a teasing impression of her boyfriends with an unhealthy amount of stereotypes.)

Amy cannot think of anything to say. Dan thinks that this is surely a first. He thinks better than to point it out.

“You should leave,” Amy says finally.

“I really shouldn’t. The plan-”

 _“Fuck the plan!_ ” Amy interrupts.

Dan gasps. She’s gone after him before in fights and usually teases his outfits or insults his work… but the plan is sacred. Some days they avoid the topic and others, it’s all they talk about. But they have never insulted it.

“Fuck _the plan_?” Dan says in a low voice.

Amy rubs her temples. The minute she got home, she slipped into some sort of oversized sweater, but she’s still wearing five-inch high heels. And she’s pulling at a strand of hair without realizing it. Dan thinks that she looks beautiful.

“You should go,” Amy says.

Neither of them remembers what they are supposed to be fighting about, but the apartment is echoing with the words that they were yelling a minute ago.

 _We are completely different people_ , Dan thinks. _Even in better situations, we have never exactly gotten along._

“Why did we think this was going to work again?” Dan asks. He sinks into a chair that Amy has set up alone by a bookshelf. He isn’t leaving, not yet.

“You just wanted to kiss me,” Amy says without thinking. And she can’t be thinking, not really, because she has just told Dan Egan her biggest fear.

Dan looks up at her. Waits to speak until she’s met his eyes. “You let me.”

“Maybe I made a mistake,” Amy counters. Dan can picture her on a high-school debate team, making another kid cry. (Which was what tenth-grade Dan used to do.)

Amy continues, “Maybe this is all a mistake.”

“You’re just tired and stressed out,” Dan says, rising to comfort her. He puts one hand on her shoulder and the other on her waist.

But Amy is not going to let him hug her.

“Leave,” she says again.

“You don’t mean that.”

“I do. God, not everyone is as obsessed with you as-- as you are.”

“You don’t really want to abandon the plan.”

“Leave.”

This time, he does.

 

* * *

 

Amy calls her sister. Even though her sister is probably going to want to get mani-pedis and cry together. Even though her sister will book them a day at the spa and get mad when Amy isn’t “relaxing properly”.

Amy calls her sister. Because now that she’s scared Dan off, there’s no one left to call.

Her sister, for all the good she’s worth, thinks that Amy should call Dan.

“Apologize,” she says.

“Really? That sounds like-”

“Like swallowing your pride? You can do it, Amy.”

“I don’t want to,” Amy groans. Her sister makes her feel like she’s seven years-old again, and she might as well be.

"Apologize. Really."

Amy hangs up. And wonders if she should feel badly about hanging up on her only sister. She doesn't, so.

She cracks open a box of Poptarts (her only guilty pleasure). Then she calls Dan.

* * *

Next time he leaves a girl's house, Dan thinks, he really should try to get further away than this. 

He's outside the nearest liquor store to Amy's apartment. It's shameful, really.

He pretends that he knew that she was going to call, but the single beer in the seat besides him says otherwise.

" _Amy_. Hi."

"Hey. So, um, I have something to say."

"That's generally why you call someone."

"Okay, no need to be a smart-ass, Egan."

"Can't change a fundamental part of me."

He can practically hear her rolling her eyes.

"Sorry, sorry, Ames. Never mind. What did you call me to say?"

"Well, now I don't want to say it."

"I don't know what that means. Wait-- you weren't calling to apologize, were you?"

"No."

"I don't believe you. Okay, I'll shut up so you can say sorry."

"No."

"Amy, there's no need to be shy."

"..."

"Did you hang up on me? Amy, you still there?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, you were just really silent."

"Sorry."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. See, that wasn't so bad!"

Amy sigh comes through the phone. "Whatever," she says. "I'll see you tomorrow, Egan."

"Not if I see you first."

He almost doesn't hear it, but she mumbles  _smart-ass_ before waiting for him to hang up.

 

 

* * *

 

It’s the next day and Dan and Amy are pretending that nothing is wrong. And nothing is, not really, not now that they are back to bantering and back to _the plan_.

“We need to talk nicknames,” Dan says. They are in an iHop-type place that Dan complained about until Amy screeched about her period and her _motherfucking cravings for some goddamn pancakes_.

“Nicknames,” Amy says. “What?”

“Like, for me to call you.” He tilts his head. “You look like a ‘sweetheart’ type.”

“No way am I going to be your sweetheart. God.” She is drumming her fingernails on the table and Dan is thinking that he should have waited for the pancakes before talking.

“Okay, then.” He crosses _sweetheart_ off his list. “What have other boyfriends called you?”

“Um…” Amy is trying to think without being distracted by her period cramps but it’s more than that. Has no guy ever called her anything cute before? Or was she just busy not paying attention?

“It’s okay,” Dan says quickly. “I’ve got a whole list.”

And Amy just stares at him because _of course_. Of-fucking-course Dan Egan comes to a brunch date with a prepared list of terms of endearment.

“Bae?” he says.

“What?” Amy says.

“Guess not. Babe?”

“Eh.”

He pencils in the word maybe in the margins.

“Love?”

“Ick.”

“Lover?”

Amy glares. “Do you want me to kill you?”

“Please,” Dan says, “Hire a hitman.” Then, “I’m joking!”

“I know you were. I just didn’t feel like laughing.”

“Hey, I know what you need!” Dan says, his face lighting up like a Christmas tree.

“Pancakes?” Amy grumbles.

“One minute,” he says. “Gotta get something from my car.”

Two minutes and 57 seconds later, Dan strides through the door and tosses something onto the table.

Extra-strength Advil.

“A girlfriend of mine used to take these for cramps,” Dan explains. He’s so obviously pleased with himself that Amy doesn’t point out that it’s douchey to mention an ex. She’s too busy falling just a bit more in love with him.

 **Hypothetically** , this would be the _best_ relationship she’s ever been in. (Hell, with what’s-his-face, she didn’t remember their one-year-anniversary.)

But this isn’t a _real_ relationship. So it’s all **hypothetical** \-- the kissing, the laughter. The walking into work holding hands, Dan stroking her palm with his thumb as she grows tense. The feeling that Amy has at night, when she wakes up and knows that he’s in the other room. The way that Dan looks at her.

Amy counts the creases on his ridiculously-beautiful face each with one little thing. She lets herself smile and sink into the comfort of this ridiculous relationship. Which **hypothetically** , could be the best thing to ever happen to her.

 

 


	5. hypothetically, president

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because every good fic needs some cliche scenes, this chapter includes: drunk texting, (mentions of) workplace sex, and a road trip. _Stay tuned!_
> 
> Disclaimer: I know nothing about campaigning, which will probably become fairly obvious.

## CHAPTER 5

“It’s our one-month anniversary,” Dan says without looking up from his phone.

Amy has always been too good at ignoring people, and one month “dating” Dan has not changed that. She simultaneous drafts an email to the whole Veep’s office and pulls her black sling-backs on, while eating half a pop-tart and a whole lot of coffee, _while ignoring Dan_. (This is why Dan will never get tired of watching her-- there is always so much going on.)

Dan grabs both of their empty mugs and starts loading the dishwasher. He’s responded to enough emails to get him through the morning and there’s not much else he needs to do for work. Today is the day that has been circled on everyone’s calendars for a year. Today is the day the MEYER 2016 campaign is officially launched.

“Ready for this long-ass car ride?” Amy asks.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” he answers.

Amy just snorts. “I know you get car sick. Don’t even try to pretend otherwise.”

“It’s mostly boats,” Dan mumbles.

“And cars. And planes. And sometimes the aiport’s moving walkway.”

“Now _that’s_ a lie.”

“I’m just teasing you, Egan. Can’t take it?”

She’s smiling at him now. In high heels, she’s almost his height, but Dan always feels the urge to pick her up and protect her from the world.

“Your cheeks are all pink,” Amy says, her face dissolving into a cute little pout. And Dan can’t stand it, can’t watch her tease him and notice her eyes sparkling, can’t stand this close and not be kissing her.

So he kisses her. Even though he’s terrified that she will fight him or stop him. But fuck it, he just _cannot_ stand to _not_ be kissing her.

* * *

 

Amy doesn’t fight him. She doesn’t stop him. She surrenders to the kiss because it’s Dan, and Dan is becoming more important to her than her phone. (And Amy would _die_ without her phone.)

She’s still thinking about the kiss when she climbs into the same motorcade car as Dan.

“You’re not going to sit with me, Amy?” Selina asks, pouting like a privileged child. (Which she can be.)

“If you wish, ma’am,” Amy replies diplomatically. Dan is nodding at her, telling her to go and be with Selina, but Amy can read his eyes. And his eyes are saying the opposite.

Selina just nods, and lets Gary help her into the car.

“You could sit with us, too,” Amy says.

Dan shakes his head. “She both know how she is. She’s going to want to feel surrounded by people who are her _friends_ ,” he says in air-quotes, “and I cannot do the whole charming thing.”

Amy pretends that there’s a compliment in there somewhere. She flashes Dan a small smile and gives him a kiss on the cheek.

“Have a safe drive,” she says.

“Wait for me, homie!”

Amy and Dan groan in unison, watching as the tall, lanky, asshole of a person comes striding towards them.

“Hey!” Jonah calls. “Guess who’s riding to Maryland!”

“Fuck. This trip is going to _suck_ ,” Dan says.

“I’ll see you on the other side.” Amy wonders why she feels the urge to call Dan by a cute nickname, why she wants to make all of his problems go away. But they didn’t discuss his nicknames and she’s settled for _babe_ , because he’s been calling her that from the very beginning.

“I’ll miss you,” Dan says casually. And Amy forgets how to breathe.

 

* * *

 

The texts don’t start right away.

First, Amy listens to Selina talk about some city that she’s never been to. She nods when Mike goes over his press speech and (most impressively) she does not roll her eyes when Gary starts showing Selina pictures of shoes.

He doesn’t text her because he misses her. (Though he does.)

After spending ten minutes listening to Jonah talk, Dan spends half an hour imagining different ways to kill him. And then Dan finds the mini-bar.

He doesn’t text her because he’s drunk (though he is). And he doesn’t text her because it’s the only thing stopping him from strangling Jonah (though it is).

He doesn’t text her because he misses her-- it’s more than that, though Dan can’t admit it. He texts her because he’s dangerously close to falling in love with her.

 

* * *

 

 **jonah is the shit that a peice of shit would shit** , is the first text.

Amy doesn’t answer. She hides her smile behind her hand and looks out the window as the city fades away.

 **if i go to jail for the rest of my life** , Dan texts, **u better come visit meeeeee**

The typing and grammar goes downhill from there.

**ammmmieeeeeeeee is french for lov but u r aaaamy**

**this little fucke i m**

**done**

Amy takes a deep breath and composes a response.

 **Are you drunk?** she texts

**iidk what dou think ba**

**e!**

**Dan. You need to be sober for later today. Stop drinking.**

**im trynz send pix o f beer b ut dk hiw**

**Stop drinking and tell me what’s wrong.**

**but then youll knowwwwww evetyghing and then shit will be all.**

**???**

**Dan, what does that mean?**

**STOP CALLIN  ME DAN ITS NOOTEVEN MY NME**

***AME**

****NAME**

**Dan, listen to me. We are stopping at the first rest stop in Maryland because Mike has to pee. And Gary. God, none of these presidential idiots peed before the two-hour car ride.**

**IMMA PEE ON JONAD,** Dan texts.

**Get off at the rest stop. I have to talk to you.**

 

* * *

 

Amy yells at Dan for three very intense minutes before she is paged to get back in the car.

“I’m going,” Amy says. “And you’re going to _get your shit together_ , Dan Egan. I will not date some loser who is day drunk.”

Dan hangs his head in shame, but Amy is so short that he can still see her.

“Now apologize, grow the fuck up, and get back to the car.”

Amy straightens her blouse.

“Okay?” she asks with a softer tone.

Dan nods and Amy walks away. It’s so much like what he used to see before the plan, like it’s just another day and Amy is leaving him behind.

But then she does something she never did before-- she looks back.

“Okay?” she asks again.

“Not really.”

She hugs him and he puts his face into her shoulder.

“You will be,” Amy says. “I promise.”

“I love you,” Dan says, but it comes out a garbled mess. And Amy does the best she can to ignore it.

“Love-birds,” Jonah says in his most obnoxious sing-song voice.

Dan grits his teeth.

Amy touches his face gently. “I’ll text you, okay? But no more drinking.”

“No more.”

This time, Dan walks away while Amy looks worriedly after him.

Dan isn’t drunk really, just tipsy, and he feels better ever since Amy stuck his head under the cold water faucet in the bathroom. He’s tipsy but not so much so that he can’t turn back and blow Amy a kiss.

* * *

They arrive at their hotel after the long drive and a sort of parade. Selina gave a speech that started “I am Selina Meyer and I am running for President of the United States”. Andrew and Catherine were there and now, everyone is complaining about the amount of waving they had to do.

Dan sees Amy across the room and rushes over.

“Is Jonah alive?” Amy asks him.

“Barely,” Dan grumbles.

“And you’re okay?” With that, Amy glances sidewise to look at Dan. The back of his head still looks damp, but other than that, no one will be able to tell what happened earlier. Except for Amy, who will hold onto his secrets like no others.

Dan smiles. “I’m so happy to be out of that car,” he says, but they both know what he means-- _I’m happy to see you_. “Sorry about earlier.” His eyebrows bunch and Amy hears what he won’t ask-- _Did you hear me say I love you?_

Amy leans into Dan and doesn’t say anything.

Selina is already gone, ushered up to a room that Amy made them officially name “The Presidential Suite” after some jokes about calling it “The Vice-Presidential Suite”.

The rest of the crew is checking in. Mike cranes his head and looks at Dan and Amy.

“Your room is ready!” he says.

“Shit,” Dan says. “Why didn’t we think of that?”

“Well, we can’t get separate rooms. Especially now that they’ve already assumed--”

Gary and Mike walk over with the single room key for Dan and Amy. Gary is grimacing (more than usually, that is) and Mike can’t meet their eyes.

“Here you go,” he says, handing Dan the key.

“You didn’t even get two room keys? Jesus, Mike, do we _look_ like we’re attached at the hip?”

Gary looks at them-- Amy leaning into Dan’s side with his arm around her waist.

“Kind of,” he says.

Amy rolls her eyes and snatches the key.

“Thanks, Mike. Now, we’re gonna go, because this is getting--”

“Awkward?” Gary says.

“Sure. Bye.”

She walks away without looking back and hopes to God that Dan is beside her.

Dan waits until they are alone in the elevator to start freaking out.

“Did you hear what they were saying?” he whispers quickly.

“No.” Amy scrolls through her emails-- she knows that Dan doesn’t need any invitations to keep talking.

“It was about how gross we are and where we have probably fucked in the office and how it’s like when Selina was with that guy and that Gary sanitizes our desks three times a fucking day.”

Amy looks at Dan. “Calm down,” she hisses.

Dan’s eyes grow wide. “Why aren’t you bothered by this?”

Amy shrugs. “It’s office gossip. Besides, it’s not like they are right.”

“ _Should_ we be having office sex?”

That makes Amy laugh. She pats Dan’s arm. “You do kind of need a work out,” she teases. “And beer has all of those empty calories.”

The doors open and Dan chases Amy to their room. Amy feels like she's seven years old again, when she didn't think about work or politics and she feels her heart beating like she's _alive_.

“I’m going to get you, Brookheimer!” Dan calls. “Make you pay for that comment!”

“You can’t catch me!” Amy calls back.

She quickly swipes the key card and dashes into the room, falling onto the bed. A few seconds later, Dan falls on top of her.

“Close the door,” she orders.

“If you’ll still be here when I come back,” Dan says. Because Amy is laying on the bed with her arms stretched over her head and her grin is taking up her whole face. Because she’s beautiful and Dan has a boner.

“I’ll be here,” Amy mutters. “ _Naked_.”

Dan closes the door in record time and they don’t talk about Gary or Mike for the rest of the night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was almost 2k words CAN I GET A 'HELL YEAH' !?!


	6. hypothetical date night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _The first date was fake. And the second was an accident._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter EVER, I'm patting myself on the back so hard it hurts.
> 
> Enjoy!

## CHAPTER 6

Selina calls Amy into her office and starts straightening her pencils _à la Incredibles_.

"Amy," she says with that smug tone that makes Amy grits her teeth and imagine strangling her boss.

"Yes, madam Vice President, what is it?"

"Do I need to be worried about this _thing_ with you and Dan?"

"It's a relationship, ma'am," Amy says. _And none of your concern_.

"And is this going to get in the way of your job?"

"Of course not." Amy is almost offended. She is dating him _for_ her career and Selina is worried she isn't career-driven enough. _Right_.

"Huh," Selina still looks uneasy. "I guess-" she shrugs, "I guess we all knew it was going to happen some day. I just figured it would be very dramatic and I'd have to fire you both."

Amy blinks. "Well. Glad that wasn't the case then."

"Tell me about it," Selina laughs and puts her hand on Amy's arm. Amy tries not to shake it off.

Sue enters the room without knocking and slides in between Amy and Selina.

"I hope this meeting is over because you're late for three other meetings," Sue says with the tragic gracefulness of a swan. She sticks around, Amy knows, because they both know what Selina is going to ask.

“Amy,” Selina says. “Leave.”

“Already left, ma’am.”

“And Sue?”

“Yes.”

“Has the president called?”

“No, he has not.”

Amy is already out of the room when her brain processes what Selina had said earlier-- something about how everyone "knew it was going to happen some day". Amy looks around the office and her gaze lands on Dan.

She realizes that no one was surprised during that first week of leaving hints and taking private lunches. She realizes that the only remarks they got were jokes.

“Mike,” Amy says, but it’s really more of a command.

“Yes?” He sounds worried, but that’s how he always sounds. Amy tries not to worry that he’s scared of her-- after all, he probably should be.

“Were you surprised when Dan and I got together?” Amy is tapping her nails against her phone and Mike is trying to figure out what the right answer is. Dan watches from his desk, standing just in case Amy needs him. His lips are in a stunned circle and now Mike is watching Amy watch Dan’s lips.

Amy clears her throat. “Honestly, Mike,” she says. “Because Selina said that no one is surprised and-- I mean, _I_ was surprised when something happened.”

Mike tries to keep a cool front, but inside he’s dancing because everyone has been wondering who made the first move and now he knows. (What can he say-- he’s a press secretary; liking to gossip is in the fucking job description.)

“Um, Amy, I would say that that is accurate.”

“You weren’t surprised?”

“Affirmative.”

Amy rolls her eyes. She’s always admired Mike’s talent for being frustratingly vague but fuck, it’s frustrating.

“I mean, you guys are kind of perfect for each other. Now, can I go back to work?”

Amy waves her hand and turns on her phone. When she passes Dan’s desk, he notices that her hand is shaking.

* * *

“Date night!” Dan is singing as he wraps his tie around his neck.

Amy groans. She is about to play happy for five hours, about to compliment the food without eating it, about to stare at politicians that she cannot stand.

“First date, first step to the White House. Egan-Brookheimer 2020 starts now!”

Needless to say, Dan is a great mood. He keeps trying to fist-pump Amy and won’t stand still when she tries to straighten his tie.

“Stop moving,” Amy says through gritted teeth.

Dan just grins easily. “What? I’m excited for tonight! I get to properly show you off as my girlfriend and to smooze with people who could hire me. I’m a star, baby, and this is when I shine!”

“You’re like a child,” Amy says. “I imagine.”

It’s as if a shadow passes over his face. “Would a child do this?” he asks before leaning in.

Amy puts her palm on his chest and pushes him away from her before the kiss can land.

“Save it,” she mutters. “I’ll be waiting in the car.”

Dan is in the kind of mood that cannot be easily dampered, the kind of night that cannot be ruined. But this-- this is coming pretty close.

* * *

They didn’t talk in the car, but the minute Dan opens the door for Amy, she takes his hand and he grabs her waist. They enter the White House Correspondent's Dinner with pink cheeks and secret smiles.

They are greeted as a couple, for the first time. Dan tries not to catalogue _all_ the firsts that happen that night, but it’s hard when they are all staring him in the face: The first time he takes food from her plate and she lets him. The first time someone takes a picture of them, as a couple, which Dan later asks for a copy of-- after all, firsts should be documented.

Amy goes off to the bathroom at one point and Dan is left alone, scanning the faces in the room to see who he hasn’t talked to yet.

It’s Selina, strangely enough. With Gary breathing down her neck and Ben watching anxiously, three feet away with a chicken wing.

“How’s it going, ma’am?” he asks her.

Gary starts whispering and Selina cuts him off with her hand, which slaps his face.

“I know who he is, Gary. _God_.”

“Just Dan, actually,” he says, smooth as ever.

“Where’s Amy?” Selina asks. “Aren’t you too attached at the hip or something?”

Gary makes a sound and Dan gives him a look.

“Bathroom,” Dan explains.

“Oh. Well, I’m glad you guys figured out the whole unresolved sexual tension thing,” Selina says and Dan feels like he’s eight years old again and his dad just explained sex to him.

“Erm,” Dan says. “Thanks?”

“I know Amy’s just my chief of state but try your best not to hurt her, you hear me, Dan?”

Dan blinks, uncomfortable. “Yes. Sure. Ma’am.”

“Kent’s approaching to your left,” Gary says. “He’s--”

“Gary I know who the fuck he is. _God almighty._ ”

* * *

Their first date ends when Dan goes to program yet another politician's number into his phone and Amy stops him.

She places her hand on his arm and says, “Babe, I’ve got it.” And it almost ruins Dan’s whole night. Because it’s fake, it all is. She is only calling him babe and touching him for publicity and he only agreed to this for the connections and political advancements.

Dan suddenly feels sick. The date is over because it was never really a date.

* * *

“I think that went well!” Amy says once they are in the car. This time, it’s Dan’s turn to sulk. But instead he chats about the people they met and tells Amy what Selina said.

“I’m impressed. Didn’t know she could be so nice.”

“You can say that again,” Dan agrees. “Also-- she was almost scary.”

Amy laughs. “That’s only because she could fire you.”

“Yeah that’s probably it.”

They drive in silence for a bit.

“Am I dropping you off at your house or…?”

Amy nods. “That would be great. You can come over tomorrow night at any time.”

“Why?”

“So we can drive to work together on Monday,” Amy says as if it should be obvious. Because this is a publicity stunt. And Dan feels like he’s trying to getting over someone he never had.

* * *

 

He shows up the next days with a bouquet of flowers.

Dan doesn’t explain and he’s not expecting much in return. But he figured she would at least say thank you.

Instead, she starts blinking away tears and goes full on  _girly_.

“They are beautiful!” Amy says. “I’ve never been given flowers before.”

Dan doesn’t hesitate. “Go get a vase then,” he says, stepping into the apartment while she runs for the kitchen. Without thinking, he grabs the card that he had put in with the flowers and shreds it.

He doesn’t think about the lonely trip to the flower shop or the vendor that hates him because he once got flowers for two girls at the same time. He doesn’t think about what the card said ( **to post on Instagram-- if we’re gonna play the relationship game, you know I want to win** ) or how he could have never predicted Amy’s response.

Dan thinks instead about how he doesn’t want to be trapped in her apartment all night, about how optimistic he was the night before and how beautiful Amy looked on his arm.

“Ames!” he calls towards the kitchen. “We staying home tonight?”

She appears around the corner with a light pink sweater. “Actually, my sister just texted me about some festival she is at. She needs babysitters and--”

“Perfect! Kids love me.”

Amy rolls her eyes. “How would you know?”

And Dan laughs, because this isn’t office banter or a competition anymore. This is friendly fire.

“It’s my face that they can’t resist.”

“Pretty sure their mating hormones haven’t kicked in yet, Egan,” Amy says as she grabs her purse.

Dan grabs her keys -she always forgets her car keys- and leads the way to the car.

“If there is anything I know for sure, Ames, it’s that no one can resist a pretty face.”

And Amy doesn’t even bother to protest.

 

* * *

 

It takes them twenty minutes to find Amy’s sister, but Dan amuses himself by counting the amount of teenage couples.

“It’s a festival,” he muses over cotton candy, “Not an orgy.”

Amy stifles a laugh. “Shut up. There are  _kids_  here.”

Dan raises an eyebrow and they both crack up.

“Yeah, as if we care,” Amy says.

Dan raises his fist and Amy bumps it with hers delicately. (It’s times like these that Dan suddenly remembers that Amy is a  _girl_ , and an attractive one at that.)

They continue walking down the boardwalk.

“I still can’t believe that you don’t like cotton candy,” Dan says. “Do you want me to win you a big stuffed animal or something?”

“Dan Egan, I would like to see you try.”

They spend the next fifteen minutes at various games trying to win prizes. Amy is a surprisingly decent shot and Dan brags about how good he is at basketball before losing at Skeeball.

Finally, Amy ends up winning a little penguin at a speed-poker game.

“No one can read my poker face,” she declares. “Even Selina can’t touch this.”

Dan finds himself smiling at her proud grin. She’s practically  _skipping_  and all of a sudden, he wants to kiss her. But it’s not like the other times, like he cannot help himself. He doesn’t want to fuck her-- he wants to win her prizes that she will never throw away, wants to bring her dozens of flowers, and to be the only person who can tell when she’s lying.

Amy looks at her phone and sighs. “We are never going to find my sister, are we?”

Dan loops his arm in hers and offers to carry to penguin. “That’s good, though,” he says. “I’m horrible with kids.”

“I knew it! I knew it!”

“No need to be so excited,” Dan says, but he can’t help but feel proud-- he has been with Amy for an hour without talking about work, and no one ever thought that was possible.

“Look,” she giggles, “Another couple on a date.”

Surely enough, there is a pimply teenage boy holding a brunette’s hand awkwardly.

Amy cracks up. “They look so uncomfortable! Do they not like each other?”

“He’s probably trying to hide a boner,” Dan says.

Amy smacks his arm. “Don’t say that. They are kind of cute, actually. Innocent.”

Dan can see now how Amy Brookheimer, ruthless, capitalist politician is innocent in her own way. Not in sex, but in love. In dates that don’t involve high heels and a skinny black dress.

“Yeah, but that guy could never be as smooth as I am.” He reaches for her hand.

“He just needs another twenty years,” Amy jokes.

“That was offensive, babe. You think you’re dating an older man?”

“You know this isn’t a date, right?” She’s still laughing from earlier, but after saying that, she stops walking and pulls her hand away from Dan. “Wait. This is a date, isn’t it?”

“Don’t look so mad,” Dan says. “It was a pretty good one, if I do say so myself.” He tries to offer her popcorn and she takes it.

“My best date ever-  _probably_ , don’t go getting all confident- and I didn’t even realize it was a date. Huh.”

“But,” Dan says, “It’s not over yet.”

“Uh-huh. So what do you have planned next?”

“Driving you home and kissing you on the doorstep while your dad watches through the blinds,” Dan says without hesitation.

Amy bites her lip. “Then?”

“Then I come by after dark and throw some rocks at your window. Call up ‘Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair’!”

“Wo-ow,” Amy says. “You really do joke endlessly outside of work. And during work.”

“Do I make you laugh, babe?”

Amy shoves the penguin in front of her face. “Shut up, you’re making me blush.”

Dan reaches for the stuffed animal and puts his hands over hers.

“Let me see you blush,” he says softly.

The sun is setting now, one of the things that Amy wanted to see at the festival. But they have stopped walking and the crowd is parting around them. They are in their own little bubble and Dan isn’t sure if he ever wants to leave.

She puts the penguin on her purse and takes her time turning her head to face him. Dan, however, does not waste time in kissing her.

Their first date was fake, but their second date was perfect.


	7. partial nudity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“You only want to kiss me when you’re drunk,” Amy said and Dan didn’t correct her._   
>  _He knows himself-- he knows that, frankly, he’s a bit of a dick._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter includes mention of eating disorders.

## CHAPTER 7

“You know what we should do?” Dan says over two black coffees during the busy Monday morning routine that he and Amy have already gotten used to.

“What?” Amy says with a mouth full of cereal.

“Photo op. As a couple. Post a couple pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.”

Amy nods. “Shall I get Sue to book it on our calendars? 2 pm: _look cute_. 10 pm: _kiss goodnight_.”

“Amy.” Dan grabs her hand. “I don’t know why you’re mad about this. This was our plan, you knew this going in. Do you want out?”

But she’s already out of the door. “Don’t back out on me now, coward!” she calls back.

“Never!” he calls back, unaware of how much he really means it.

 

* * *

 

 _Underwater photography_ sounded like a cool thing, Dan insisted and Amy agreed, until they find themselves faced with a bigger the realization that _swimming_ means _partial nudity_.

“It’s no big deal,” Amy keeps saying to herself. He’s seen her naked before, but she can count the times on one hand and it can’t be a coincidence that he was always drunk.

“It’s no big deal,” Amy says, feeling like a teenager confronted with emotional intimacy for the first time. There’s a reason she went into politics-- she’s cold. (And she has a knack for it. But mostly the first thing.)

There’s a word for what she’s feeling when she studies herself in the mirror, there’s a reason for why she sees fat clinging to her stomach when there is nothing there.

“It’s not a big deal,” she says, but she’s lying. “It’s just Dan.” But there is nothing ‘just’ about Dan, not anymore. Because Dan gives the best hugs and he always smells the faintest bit like vanilla. Because Dan has the most attractive hands and Amy can’t help wanting him to hold her.

“You are a badass,” Amy says to the mirror. She tries not to flinch as she takes off her tanktop and reveals her bare skin. She’s too pale, too fat, but in the wrong places, and if she keeps staring at herself, she’s going to punch the mirror.

Amy tugs on a bikini and attempts to find a part of her body that looks okay. Her hair is uber-straightened, like always, and looks a thousand times more put together than she feels.

“My hair looks nice,” she has to say outloud. This is part of dealing with the voices inside her head. This is how she has learned to cope. Obsessed over one good thing instead of all of the bad. Put on her perfected poker face and act better than everyone else.

“It’s not a big deal,” Amy says for the last time, before stepping out to greet a mostly-nude Dan. And so what if she checks him out and notices that his body is sculpted like a God’s? It’s not a big deal.

 

* * *

 

They soon realize that underwater pictures are really fucking expensive.

“Give me a pool and a camera,” Dan suggests, “And boom! Underwater pictures that _don’t_ cost over a hundred dollars.”

Amy finds a six-pack in the back of her freezer and they head to the house of someone Dan knows who is on vacation and has a pool.

Then they realize that they forgot a camera.

“For someone who spent so many years in school, you sure are dumb, Dan Egan.”

“Being around politicians will lower your IQ,” Dan responds. “I’ve been saying that for years.”

“Excuses,” Amy mumbles.

“So,” Dan says after a minute. “Which one of us is going to get a disposable camera?”

“Rock-paper-scissors?” Amy suggest and Dan finds himself thinking that she really might be perfect for him.

Dan loses in two turns.  And when their fingers brush, he has to pretend like he isn’t imaging sparks. (Because that would be unrealistic and dumb. And there’s no way that she’s thinking the same thing, so what’s the point? Unless, **hypothetically** , she was.)

They fill up a full roll of film.

“I didn’t know they still made these,” Amy says with a small smile. She’s thinking of middle school parties and homecoming and the same blue dress that she wore until it was too big on her and her eating disorder got her checked into a hospital. She’s thinking about the years that she went without cameras, shattering every mirror in her apartment, and the years of recovery that followed. She’s thinking about when she got an iPhone, took a selfie and almost cried because she liked how she looked.

But most of all, she’s thinking about how small the camera looks in Dan’s capable hands and how his eyes keep raking over her body. She’s thinking of how he touches her like she’s delicate, something that no guy has ever done before, and how she kisses him for a picture and he tastes like Sunday morning coffee and sleep.

Dan pulls out two rolls of film and Amy snatches the camera.

“Get in,” she orders, “I’m taking the pictures now.”

“Is that how it is?” he says with that signature Egan smirk. Amy has worked with him for so long that sometimes the only memories she has of the especially stressful days are his smirk, his dark eyes watching her every move and how she would do anything to best him.

Now, he sits on the edge of the pool finishing off the last beer. Amy uses her toes to push him in so that she can capture his face on film. And it turns out perfect, because his surprised face is a million times better than his smirk and Amy has no idea why it’s taken her so long to figure it out.

“Hey!” Dan cries. “That was _mean_ , Brookheimer!”

Amy rolls her eyes and snaps a picture. “Dan looking pouty. Perfect.”

He splashes her and she yelps.

“Come in!” he calls. “The water is nice.”

Amy dances away and Dan will not be stuck watching.

He’s out of the pool in a few seconds and he sneaks up behind her, putting his arms over her eyes with a shout.

“Guess who?” he whispers in her ear. He can feel her body respond to his voice, or maybe it’s because he was soaking wet and she had been drying off. Either way, he keeps muttering like he knows what it’s doing to her.

“We have to take some pictures together,” Dan says.

“Screw the pictures,” Amy says, taking his hands and guiding them down her body. She turns around and he’s hard against her legs and she’s wet as he slips his hand under her bikini. “I want a memory that’s just for us.”

 

* * *

 

Dan suggests a shower after their little fingering adventure makes both of them come.

“But there’s a pool, dummy,” Amy says and a minute later, they are making out in the shallow end.

Dan finds the camera and gets one good picture of Amy before she covers her face.

“Hey,” he says, touching her hand. “You’re beautiful.”

Amy swims to the deep end and back, but not because she’s crying. Of course not. Just because she wasn’t going to spend the whole time in his lap and because she’s always been a great swimmer.

“Ames,” Dan says quietly, as if he’s afraid that speaking loudly will upset her. “You okay?” He’s holding the camera too tight and suddenly, the flash goes off.

Amy climbs out of the pool with shaky legs.

“You know what, Dan? I’m not. Not really.”

“What’s wrong?” _He looks concerned_ , Amy thinks, _but mostly just confused._

Amy shakes her head and stomps off. Dan chases her, because he’s had enough girls get mad at him to know his next move.

He finds Amy sitting on the kitchen floor with her back against the fridge and a puddle of pool water around her.

“Babe,” he says. “You’re freaking out.”

Amy glares up at him. For the first time since they got in the water, Dan notices that her mascara is totally smudged around her eyes. She looks like the raccoon Dan captured as a kid, that his Dad made him shoot before giving him a lecture on rabies.

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“Um, wanna tell me why?”

“ _Wanna tell me why_ ,” Amy says in a high voice to mimic him. “God, do you ever hear how stupid you sound? I should Jonah to come here just so he can tell you how fucking stupid you should.”

“Wow,” Dan says. “Why the fuck would you bring up Jonah?”

“I don’t know,” Amy laughs, but it’s her crazy-laugh, her screaming-in-the-parking-lot-laugh. “Maybe because I’m _freaking_ out. Remember when you had a breakdown and I sat beside in in the fucking hospital?” She’s so mad now that she’s spitting. “You didn’t get the hint then, and you aren’t getting it now.”

“Amy, _what hint_?”

Amy sighs. “I have to go.” She gets up and prances out of the room.

“Come back!” Dan yells. His anger surprises both of them, and Amy freezes in the doorway. She turns around slowly and says the only thing that she’s been thinking:

“You only want to kiss me when you’re drunk.”

 

* * *

 

Dan has been meaning to go sober for-- well, since two presidents ago. He was supposed to kick the little habit this year, for the sake of his job and the fact that he needs to be _totally_ in control 100 percent of the time.

He has been meaning to go sober and fuck it if he can admit the reason why he hasn’t.

“You only want to kiss me when you’re drunk,” Amy said and Dan didn’t correct her.

He knows himself-- he knows that, frankly, he’s a bit of a dick.

Dan drums his fingers on his phone and wonders if he should have started the relationship with a few fucking _disclaimers_.

“Warning,” he pictures himself saying, “I am usually in control. I am trying to get sober but I’ve been trying to for a while now and it hasn’t happened.”

“Warning,” he pictures himself saying, “When you wear red, I cannot keep my eyes off you and did you know that your eyes sparkle to rival your diamond earrings? and I think I could fall in love with you.”

Dan groans so loudly that his taxi driver turns around to check if he’s okay. (Which, for the record, he isn’t.)

“You only want to kiss me when you’re drunk,” Amy said and Dan should have replied with the truth: That he always wanted to kiss her, but couldn’t let himself. That he was trying impossibly hard to keep up the act of a fake relationship, to turn the physical aspect of a relationship on and off.

That he’s the type of drunk who does exactly what he wants to do sober.

 


	8. hypothetically, one hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> __  
> When they go into the campaigning office, Selina is no where to be found.  
>  “Mike, where the fuck is she?” Dan asks.  
> Amy stands by his side with her arms crossed. Mike steps away from them.  
> “Damn, you guys are a shoo-in for scariest couple of the year."  
> 

## CHAPTER 8

They don’t make up in any sort of scene that could be featured in a romantic comedy (or a romantic drama). Dan doesn’t walk into Amy’s apartment and find her wearing his sweatshirt and he doesn’t buy her flowers.

Instead, they show up to work in separate cars at equally outrageous hours. And Dan finds Amy’s panties in his suit jacket (must be some mistake with the laundry, he tells a horrified Gary and a red-faced Mike).

Instead, Selina is freaking out and both of them race into her office.

“The weekend polling numbers are in,” Kent is telling them. Everyone knows how big of a deal this is without saying anything.

Selina, of course, says something. “This is the last weekend polling numbers.”

“Rest in peace,” Dan wants to say. Amy finds herself fighting the urge to cheer—the end of this election could not come soon enough in her mind. They share a glance instinctively and then look away.

Suddenly, Amy’s mind is wiped clear of the campaign, the polling, everything, except what she said to Dan. She hears her sister screeching, “You ruin everything that has the potential to hurt you.”

Amy looks at Dan through a veil of hair. Fuck, this whole relationship is so _distracting_. She has never been less focused on work and it’s the fucking last week of the campaign.

But then everyone is cheering and the numbers must be good because Selina has abandoned her heels and is jumping around with Gary, both screeching at very high frequencies.

“Congrats, ma’am,” Amy says without one ounce of emotion. “Dan, if I could have a word with you in the hall.”

They don’t make up in any sort of romantic fashion. Dan hands Amy her underwear and Amy blinks uncomfortably.

“We done?” Dan says to his shoes.

“What does the _contract_ have to say?” Amy mutters.

There is a loud gasp and when Amy turns, Gary is standing with his hand clutched over his mouth.

“I didn’t hear anything,” the guy says but he’s fucking shaking.

“Shit,” Dan mumbles.

Amy nods. Because really, how did they expect no one to find out?

“It’s just Gary,” Amy says to Dan. “I’m going to go yell at him until he forget what he heard.”

“Okay. And Amy?”

She turns her head to catch what Dan says, but he just gives her a sweet kiss and squeezes her hand. Amy has felt shitty all morning, but suddenly, she doesn’t feel shitty at all.

 

* * *

 

Amy texts Dan while dealing with the whole Gary crisis (because she’s a girl, and they can multitask like you wouldn’t believe).

**So does this mean our fight is over?**

Dan replies in seconds. **well usually someone has to apologize for a fight to be over.**

Amy does not want to be the one to accept the blame for this, but she knows that Dan is just as stubborn.

 **Well** , she texts, **I accept your apology.**

**you 2. hows it goin with gary?**

Amy rolls her eyes as if Dan can see her.

**He’s crying.**

“Shh,” Amy is saying, patting Gary’s back awkwardly.

“I’m just so _sorry_!” Gary whines.

“And I forgive you.” Amy goes back to checking her email and Gary blows his nose into the sleeves of his shirt.

“Hey Gary?” Amy says.

“Yeah,” he sniffles.

“I think Selina needs you.” His ears perk up like a dog’s would. “And I really need you not to tell her anything. Think you can do that?”

His back straightens and his face is dead-serious as he wipes tears from his eyes. “Of course, Amy,” he says in awe.

“Great.” And Amy is already walking away, heels clicking on the ground as she goes to solve the problems of the Vice President of the United States of America.

She has one last text from Dan, though she barely even has time to smile to it.

**you got this. xoxo**

 

* * *

 

With the end of the campaign approaching like a heart attack, Dan makes Amy take an hour off. They drive back to her apartment and wrestle for her phone.

“I need my phone,” Amy says and Dan reaches into the back seat and grabs the camera, which still has an empty roll. He snaps a picture of her because she looks adorable, like a four-year-old who didn’t get her way.

“Not nice, Dan!”

“Awww, I’ll try to be nicer, kay baby?”

She uncrossed her arms, thinks for a second, and crosses them again. “What. The. Fuck. Did you just call me?”

“You’re acting like a baby, Amy. So I took work away. It’s one hour. Let’s just have sex or something.”

“I don’t want sex I want my phone!”

“There,” he says, pointing at her. “There is the problem. It’s not like I am not an overworker but goddamn it, Amy, you’ve been slaving non-stop over this campaign. It’s too late for anything else.”

She doesn’t say anything, but Dan takes to mean that his point trumps anything she’s thinking.

“Okay?” he asks. “One hour?”

“Okay,” she says in a soft voice. “Just one.”

Two hours later, Dan is listing all of the things that he hates about her apartment. And Amy has her bare feet in his lap and both hands wrapped around a glass of red wine.

After Dan rants on the furniture, the location, the statement Amy is sending to the rest of DC through her apartment, he pauses for breath.

Amy just snorts. “Is that all?”

“No, the colors are all wrong too. Who paints a full room gray? Also, hon, gray does not match yellow, which is almost as bad a color.”

“And why have you waited so long to say all of that?” She rolls her eyes, but the mood between them is as light as a sunrise. Amy’s couch is surprisingly comfortable and Dan started rubbing her feet without thinking about it.

“Maybe I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” he says and Amy almost falls off the couch because was Dan Egan being nice?

 

* * *

 

“Should we go looking for a new place?” Amy asks.

They are on their way back to work and Dan is stressed because when he called Sue to ask how Selina was doing without them, her reply was: “Hasn’t even noticed you’ve been gone.” (Was he really that important? Was his job even secure? He knew that he should have taken Chung up on his offer months ago...)

“Dan,” Amy says. “Are you even listening to me.”

“Yeah, yeah. Um, what?”

“Do you think we should look for a new place?”

Dan just stares at her, his old-enemy, his now pretend-girlfriend. She navigates through DC traffic better than he can (though he’d never admit that) and she taught him how to make the best cup of coffee. But does he want to move in with her?

He does. He wants to buy every board game he knows and cream her in all of them. He wants to put their books in shelves next to each other and laugh over how many of the same ones they have.

“Anything would be better than your current apartment,” he says casually, staring at his phone so she won’t think that he cares.

“And you’ll sell yours?”

“I don’t know about that,” Dan says, but he’s already making a list of the neighborhoods he wants to look in and the specific things they need (two bedrooms, two bathrooms, an open floor plan, and room for his billiards table).

Amy smiles to herself. Honestly, neither of them expected this relationship to go so well. She’s happy, for once; almost happy enough to not be worried about Selina.

When they go into the campaigning office, Selina is no where to be found.

“Mike, where the fuck is she?” Dan asks.

Amy stands by his side with her arms crossed. Mike steps away from them.

“Damn, you guys are a shoo-in for scariest couple of the year,” he says.

“No jokes,” Amy barks. “Just tell us where to find her.”

He just shrugs. “Ask Sue.”

“Useless peice of crap,” Dan mutters as they walk away.

“Remind me to remind Selina to fire him.”

“Of course,” Dan says.

When they find Selina (“She’s spinning,” Sue says. “And who the fuck set up a place for her to spin?” Amy cries out, though of course Gary is sulking in the corner looking guilty), Dan and Amy march in as a team.

“How cute,” Selina says, yawning. “You guys holding hands and everything.”

“We figured we’d start prepping your speeches for--” Amy’s voice trails off. She can’t say it, can’t acknowledge that the campaign is going to be over and Selina (and de facto, Amy) is either going to win or lose.

Selina shrugs, spinning the chair from side to side.

They stand in silence for a second.

“Okay, I’m going to get on that,” Dan says, disappearing.

Selina reaches for Amy’s hand. “It’s almost over, Amy. Everything we’ve been waiting for.”

“Yes, ma’am, that’s correct.”

“Do you think I’m going to win, Amy?”

“I think that we have done everything we can and that it’s in the hands of the public now.”

“Would you vote for me?” Selina asks, the worst question of the two.

“We will, ma’am,” Amy says.

“So you’re speaking for Dan now, too? Honestly, can’t say it surprised me.”

There is that phrase again.

“What do you mean?” Amy says, holding back the urge to call Selina ma’am. She knows that what Selina wants, second to power, is friends.

“There’s always been tension. You begged me not to hire him, and I gotta say, you had never been that passionate about a personal matter.” Her eyebrows creases. “I never heard you talk about your personal life, actually.”

“Well, um, Selina, you’re invited to the wedding.”

Selina’s eyes boogle down to Amy’s ring finger, which is empty.

“I mean, when it happens. You know men-- they take so long to get a hint.”

“Oh, Amy,” Selina says, “I’m so happy for you! And you’ve done some pretty good work on this campaign.”

Amy is already asking for a letter of recommendation, just in case Selina loses.

“I gotta get to work,” Amy says.

“Yes,” Selina laughs. “Me too! Send Ben in after you.”

Amy leaves with a sinking feeling in her chest. She knows that her relationship with Dan is for political benefit. So why does she feel so badly using it for that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two more chapters left of Part One after this!! Comment if you're excited :D


	9. the view

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But then of course they have to look at locations all over DC and end up in a house. _("I feel like a housewife," Amy says. And Dan practically drools.)_

## CHAPTER 9

“Our relator’s name is Julianne and she’s meeting us at four o’clock today.”

“How you know that I don’t already have a relator?”

“Because you live in a shoebox, Amy. The same shoebox from college.” Dan rolls his eyes.

Amy doesn’t say that he’s right (even though he _is_ ), because that would be letting him win. Instead, she opens her calendar and sees that Dan has already put in the appointment.

Four o’clock comes much too soon and even though Dan made the appointment, Amy has to literally drag him away from work.

“I know you love work more than anything,” Amy says seriously, “But if we don’t leave now, I will be making you sleep on the couch for a week.”

Gary behind them makes an “ooooh” sound and Mike pretends to puke.

Dan doesn’t mention that he’s been sleeping in the guest room on the days when he doesn’t make it back to his apartment (which is more often than not, now).

“You moving in together?” Gary says in his most pathetic, lonely, I-live-with-my-imaginary-cats voice.

“Yup,” Dan says, looping his arm around Amy’s waist. “I just couldn’t keep myself away from her.”

Everyone looks disgusted. Amy takes it as the perfect opportunity to pull Dan out of the room.

In the parking garage, Amy untangles him from her without speaking.

“So,” Dan says, “I have a list of everything that we are looking for.”

Amy gives him a look. “Actually, I drafted a list.” She gets into the passenger seat of her car (they use it, mostly because Dan complains about gas that one time and Amy refuses to want to move her CDs), and pulls out a legal pad. The first three pages are full of columns:   _need_ , _want_ , and _hate_.

Dan sighs and hands Amy his phone, open to his list of requirements.

She snorts. “Wow. Most of these are the same, actually.”

“What do you know,” Dan says, pulling out of the garage, “We make a good team.”

 

* * *

 

They set out to look at places to live. Amy calls someone she calls “Di” to make a manicure appointment. Dan plays with his watch and, when that’s too boring, Amy’s hair.

“Stop.” She pushes his hands away and tucks her hair behind her ear.

Dan’s old girlfriends _loved_ it when he played with their hair. It was the one thing he could never mix up when he was with two girls, because no one ever turned it down. Until now.

The realtor eyes Amy and purses her lips together when they meet. But Amy hardly notices, because, as of three minutes ago, Selina is officially polling better than O’Brien. Which means that tense, shrill Amy is gone, and in her place is someone that Dan could get used to.

“What do you think about dining rooms, Dan?” Amy is asking.

“I usually don’t, actually.”

“I mean, we’ll be having dinner parties, but I always figured it would be nice to have people outside. A patio, of some sort. What do you think about patios?”

Dan smiles and meets Amy’s eyes. “I love them.”

“I feel like a housewife,” Amy says. And Dan practically starts _drooling_.

 

* * *

The first apartment is too small. (“Where would we have sex?” Dan asks Amy and she resists the urge to throw him out the window.)

The second is too far from work. (“I see you’re very busy,” the realtor says to Dan and Amy buts in to say, “We _both_ are.”)

And the third is a piece of shit. The door practically falls on Dan when he tries to open it, and Amy almost dies laughing.

“Is it safe to go upstairs?” Dan asks. The realtor just shrugs (Julianne is kind of a bitch, Amy decides.)

“I’m not scared,” Amy announces, taking the (creaky, old, mostly-broken) stairs two at a time.

Dan follows her. Because what else is he supposed to do?

The upstairs is much better than the downstairs (which featured a kitchen that was practically just a corner, a dining room with broken windows and some sort of living room with no windows at all).

“This is cute,” Amy says, looking into a bathroom with antique purple tiles (which were original when the house was built, probably).

“You’re cute,” Dan responds.

“The realtor is downstairs, Dan. No need to say things like that.”

Dan just shrugs. “You walked right into it, babe.” He flips a switch on the wall of one of the rooms off the hall; nothing happens.

Amy turns on the flashlight on her phone and what they see through the doorway surprises them.

It’s a nursery, complete with a crib and a the smallest bay windows Amy has ever seen.

“Well,” Amy says after a few minutes of silence in which neither of them wants to say anything that has to do with the adorable baby-room in front of them. “This is where you can sleep.”

Dan laughs and leads Amy away from the room. “I like the master so much better,” he says.

And he’s got a point. The rest of the house might be falling apart, but the master bedroom is-- well, it also has chipping paint and a suspicious gap where there should be a light fixture. But it has a wall of windows that the bed faces.

Amy sits on the window seat. “You can see the city,” she says in a hushed voice.

Surely enough, downtown DC is visible since the house is placed on top of a hill. The backyard is one big patch of grass that disappears down the other side of the hill and that Dan will be fucked if he has to mow. But he’s already started thinking of it as theirs.

* * *

The realtor almost faints when they say that they want to make an offer.

“Let’s see,” she says, checking over both of their lists. “It has one or two of the things that you wanted. Are you sure you don’t want to keep looking?”

“We’ll save a lot of money buying this,” Amy says. “And then we can put that money back into the house. Paint, fix the floors, patch up some windows.”

Dan has never seen her look so excited outside of work.

“What do you think about making the living room a library?” she asks. “I mean, since there are no windows already--”

Dan kisses her in the middle of her sentence.

“That’s a great idea, babe. And did you notice anything about the spare room downstairs and the master?”

“Oh my god,” the realtor mutters, thinking that these people must be crazy. Because Amy is nodding up at Dan and blinking back tears.

“I noticed,” she says. “They are shaped in an oval.”

“Our very own oval office,” Dan echoes her thoughts. “Nancy, we’ll take it.”

“Oh, God bless,” she says.

 

 

* * *

 

They’re buying a house together, which seems like a bigger deal than renting an apartment to Dan.

They’re buying a house together, so it’s obvious what should come next.

Amy argues with the realtor over dates and they book closing in two weeks to the day that they first saw the house. And Dan opens his private calendar and pencils something else in.

When Amy wants to rush back to work, Dan lets her go in alone. Without saying a word, he drives back out of the garage. Once downtown, he goes into a shop he’s never willingly gone in before.

And he buys a ring.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one was shorter (and took me forever to post ahh I suck) buT THE END!! Did anyone see that coming??
> 
> Also if there are any characters from the show that you'd like to see more of, just comment and I'll write scenes with them! The whole cast is amazing but it's been easier to focus on just Dan and Amy.


	10. election night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan is not sure when Amy reached for his hand, but she’s squeezing it now and all he can think is _I’m here for you, I got you, I’ll always be here for you._ He might even mean it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used a ton of quotes from the episode 4x10, Election Night (and the title, lol) because once again, I know NOTHING about campaigns or elections or politics. But I figured in Dan and Amy still working for Selina and ignored Tom James (who I actually _love_ ). All credit goes to HBO's Veep.  
> Also, the ending will _not_ the same as the end of season 4, so don't think you know what's going to happen!

## CHAPTER 10: election night

“East Coast polls are closing,” Ben says to the hotel room.

“Don’t tell me, tell the woman trying to become president,” Amy says. “Obviously.”

Dan puts a hand on Amy’s back. She closes her eyes and tries not to shake him off.

It’s not that she’s tense (though _fuck_ is she tense), it’s that this whole night matters. It matters more than every campaign speech, more than every pancake breakfast, more than all of the times that Selina has fucked up.

Amy was the head of this campaign. This night will, simply put, make or break her life.

She doesn’t think about how Dan has already lined up meetings with O’Brien, the other candidate, or that he got them to meet with Amy. She hadn’t asked him to do that, but as Dan said, “I’m not letting you go down. Because then you’ll drag me down.”

Selina comes out of the bedroom in a haze just as Mike yells out, “We lost Kentucky.”

Gary rushes over to Selina as if it’s his job (which it might as well be). “Hey, you okay, ma’am?”

“Oh, I’d love one,” Selina responds.

There is a sober moment in the room as everything thinks _she could be our president._

“They just called Indiana and South Carolina,” Bill says.

Everyone cheers and Bill just looks nauseous.

“No, they called them for O’Brien,” he corrects himself.

“Fuck,” half of the room mutters.

Amy buries her head into Dan’s MEYER FOR PRESIDENT shirt.

“Fuck this,” she mutters. “I’m moving to Hawaii.”

“You’d get skin cancer,” Dan says, and Amy chuckles.

“You ruin everything,” she says. “Except this election. I may have ruined this election.”

“We won Vermont and Connecticut!” someone announces. And Amy doesn’t cheer like Gary ( _why is he even here?_ she wonders, _to get everyone tea or something?)_ , but she cracks a smile and pulls away from Dan.

She’s okay. She’s going to be okay.

“Only a few more hours,” Dan says. “And it will be over.”

Amy nods. In a few hours, she will either be Chief of State for the motherfucking president or she’ll be unemployed.

In a few hours, she will either be in charge of making the biggest idiot in DC look good or she’ll be in the same boat as Dan (who isn’t freaking out. Why isn’t he freaking out?).

“Election nights are my cocaine,” Ben says. “It used to be that cocaine _and_ election nights were my cocaine."

Amy and Dan roll their eyes and chuckle in unison. Amy might be shit at her job and Selina might be losing this election, but they are killing this fake relationship.

 

* * *

 

Dan isn’t nervous about the election. He can always get a job with O’Brien, or whatever dipshit politician is going to be running in four years. He can always run around DC cashing in favors. And if things get really bad, he can always lobby.

Dan isn’t nervous about the election, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t nervous.

“They are projecting Colorado for you,” Mike says.

Selina nods like she’s humble and like it’s not a big deal-- both of which are not true.

“Meyer is on fire!” Tom James cries out while everyone celebrates.

“What?!” Gary shrieks, taking it literally. 

Selina (and the rest of the room) roll their eyes.

“O’Brien won Wisconsin.”

Everyone groans.

“I thought we had that,” Selina mutters.

“Me too,” Ben says.

“I wasn’t sure,” someone says.

Amy’s hands clench into fists and the tension in the room swells.

“Fuck,” Amy mutters.

“Karen!” Selina says.

“I gotta go I gotta go I can’t be here,” Amy starts hyperventilating.

Dan grabs her by the shoulders and pushes her out of the room.

“Everyone,” he says ungracefully, “Um. We are going.”

Once in the hall, Dan tries to get Amy to take deep breaths and Amy invisions five different ways that she could kill Karen. Selina will be president for a few more hours (at least)-- maybe she could even pardon her.

They can still hear everyone, because they aren’t out in the hall so much as outside the door for the penthouse, in a little bit of space before the elevator.

“We are losing,” Amy mutters. “We are losing and I can feel it.”

“Amy,” Dan hisses. “You need to not lose your shit right now. Tomorrow-- fine! Friday-- sure! But not today.”

There is no other way to describe it-- her face crumbles. “I hate losing, Dan. I hate it.”

He not sure when she reached for his hand, but she’s squeezing it now and all he can think is _I’m here for you, I got you, I’ll always be here for you_. He might even mean it.

He says these things over and over and he can tell that Amy is starting to relax (as much as Amy Brookheimer will ever relax, that is).

They hear Karen’s shrill, stupid laugh through the door.

“Make out with me, goddammit, do something -anything- so that I stop thinking about that woman,” Amy says.

And so they make out, lazily against the elevator. Amy wonders, just as lazily, what the bulge in Dan’s pants is (because this is the type of making out that she’s seen Dan do with someone while texting behind her back, and because Dan does kind of seem like the type to get a boner during election night).

She’s wondering this and Dan is wondering if he’s making some sort of horrible mistake (but he’s probably not because this is _Amy_ ). He’s not nervous because of the hugeness of this moment; he’s nervous because what if she says no?

 

* * *

 

“They are rescinding Wisconsin!” Mike yells with the delight of a child.

Everyone is arguing about the word rescind and Dan thinks _it’s now or never_.

“If I could have everyone’s attention, please!” he calls. He’ll stand on a fucking table or something if that’s what he needs to do.

Mike is still staring at his phone, probably at another shitty app. Karen looks bored (which, honestly, is how she always looks). Tom James left the room but Dan doesn’t care because, unlike the rest of the world, he actually does not give two shits about Tom James.

But Selina stops talking, and Ben even puts down his gallon of beer.

It’s now or never. (And it kind of is. Because the campaign is over and Selina might be -God help everyone- President of the United States.)

“Amy,” Dan says sweetly. “If you could look this way, babe.”

She looks up from her phone. “Uh-huh. Sure.”

It’s now or never. It’s now, it’s now, it’s now.

Dan gets down on one-knee.

The whole room collectively gaps. Gary might have fainted and Selina is already turning green with jealousy. (The only one with a straight face is Sue, but, well, that’s just Sue.)

“Ames,” Dan says, reaching into his pocket and opening the Tiffany box that makes color return to Amy’s cheeks.

“Amy, the first time I saw you, I thought you were the most stunning person I had ever seen.”

This is a lie. The first time Dan can remember seeing Amy, she was shoving two slices of pizza down her throat at the same time because her lunch break was three minutes long. The first time Dan can remember seeing Amy, he wondered if she had any connections that could be useful to him.

“I messed up the first time, I know I did," he says. ( _Because I was using you for access to the Veep’s office,_ he doesn’t.)

“But those three dates scared me because my feelings for you scared me, honestly. I know, I know,” he laughs, “And I’m not scared of anything!”

There is light laughter. Amy’s hand is still over her mouth in a show of surprise. (Dan can’t help but wonder if it’s real.)

In the corner of his eye, Dan sees that someone has a camera. This is the performance of his life and he’s just hoping it’s recording.

“Amy, I don’t care what happens with this election.” (As if.) “I don’t care who won Wisconsin -no offense, ma’am- because, Ames, all I care about is you.” (The words are starting to feel less bitter coming out of his mouth, the lies slipping out easier. He decides not to think anything of it.)

“No matter who wins this election, no matter which one of us runs for president first,” (laughter right as cued), “I want you by my side.”

The tears in Amy’s eyes flash brighter than the ring. Dan reaches for her hand and hopes he’s not crying, too. (He didn’t think it would be this emotional. He hoped it would be emotional and all, but not like this.)

“Amy Elizabeth Brookheimer, will you marry me?”

Dan finds himself holding his breath. He feels his legs shaking and barely has time to register relief when Amy says, “yes.” And then again and again, “yes, yes, yes, I will!”

She pulls him to his feet and he pulls her into his arms. They kiss, but it’s sloppy and they are both crying and both grinning and everyone is laughing.

Later, Dan knows, they will relive this moment. They will always have this story to tell people, and it makes him feel slightly sick, because Amy will think she knows why he proposed.

She will think it was a political statement, strategically performed in front of the press and politicians. She will think that he proposed because that's what the relationship is for.

But Dan will know that he meant exactly what he said: no matter what happens, he cannot imagine life without Amy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Le fin!**
> 
> Part two of this series, _Together_ will be posted as soon as I get around to editing it!
> 
> Comment if you enjoyed this! Love you all ^.^


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